PETALING JAYA, 27 April 2009: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) has fired 16 members for offences against the party committed during the Bukit Selambau and Batang Ai by-elections.

“They ran as candidates against party candidates, supported candidates that ran against party candidates, criticised the party through the media, or declared themselves to have left the party in rallies or to the media,” said PKR deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali in a press statement today.

The dismissals were effective as of 26 April.

The 16 included Moganakumar Subramaniam (Merbok) and Jayagopal Andaikalam (Pokok Sena), both formerly from PKR Kedah, who ran as independent candidates in the Bukit Selambau by-election.

Also on the list was Kalaivanar Balasundram, the former PKR Jerai chief who quit the party and applied to dissolve the entire Jerai division on 30 March. Kalaivanar had called PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim a “pharaoh and dictator”.

Twelve of the fired members were from PKR Kedah. The four from PKR Sarawak included former Julau PKR chief Dr Ambrose Labang Jamba, who quit with some of his committee members on 5 April.

Syed Husin said the party’s supreme council decided unanimously on the dismissals in its 26 April meeting.